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AN EXPLOSION at an industrial park for chemical companies shook the German city of Leverkusen today, sending a large black cloud rising into the air.
At least one person was reported dead, with 31 injured and four missing.
Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection & Disaster Assistance classified the explosion as “an extreme threat” and asked residents to stay inside, turn off ventilation systems and keep windows and doors closed.
However, nearby Cologne’s fire department later said that measurements of the air’s pollution “do not show any kind of abnormality.”
The city of Leverkusen said in a statement that the explosion at the Chempark site, about 13 miles north of Cologne on the Rhine river, occurred in storage tanks for solvents.
Currenta, the company operating the chemical park, said the explosion happened at the storage tanks of its waste management centre and then developed into a fire.
Leverkusen is home to Bayer, one of Germany’s biggest chemical companies. It has about 163,000 residents and borders Cologne, Germany’s fourth-biggest city with about a million inhabitants.
